R.S.L.
is constructed from 597 larger spools of thread so the image resolution
is very low. Yet when seen through a viewing sphere, the thread spools condense
into a recognizable image, conveying how little information the brain needs
to make sense of visual imagery it has already been exposed to.

At
first glance, the thread spool installation appears to be a random arrangement
of spools of thread. A clear acrylic sphere placed in front of the work,
shrinks and condenses the thread spool "pixels" into a recognizable image
while also rotating the imagery 180 degrees like the human eye. This shift
in perception functions as a dramatic mechanism to present the idea that
there is no one truth or reality, emphasizing subjective reality vs. an
absolute truth.

Artist
Statement

I
am interested in the link between art, science, and technology, how
the eyes and brain prioritize, and reality as a subjective experience
vs. an absolute truth. As a visual artist, I cannot think of a topic
more stimulating and yet so basic, than the act of seeing--how the human
brain makes sense of the visual world.

My
current body of work consists of sculptures assembled from thousands
of ordinary objects -spools of thread, marker-pen caps, map tacks, or
chenille stems, combined with optical devices such as clear acrylic
viewing spheres, convex mirrors, or reversed binoculars. I place equal
emphasis on the whole recognizable image and how the individual parts
function as abstract elements, selecting materials based on aesthetic
and functional characteristics as well as for their capacity for a compelling
and often contrasting relationship with the subject matter.

My
interest in the biology of vision grew from my desire to understand
how viewers experience my work. The thread spool installations illustrate
specific visual experiences related to the biology of vision such as:
how the human eyes and brain process sensory data-- Photons bouncing
off the spools of thread reach our eyes where they are turned into a
pattern that is sent to the primary visual cortex where the rough shapes
are recognized. The pattern is then sent to higher regions where colors
are recognized and where thread spool identities are encoded along with
other knowledge we already has about thread spools. This direction of
flow is called: feed forward, meaning the data is moving from bottom
to top (eyes to brain).

Bundles
of nerve cells carry information. Traffic flowing from top to bottom
is called feedback or top-down processing. There are 10 times as many
nerve fibers carrying information down as there are carrying it up.
So what we see is based on what neuroscientists call "top down processing."
And what we see depends on the framework built by past experience that
interprets raw data.

When
the top (or brain) is convinced it knows what it is seeing (in this
case, initially fixating on what appears to be a random arrangement
of thread spools), the bottom level of data (the recognizable portrait)
is overruled. This may explain why my use of thread spools create such
a jolt or 'WOW" experience when the viewer finally sees the representation
imagery in the viewing sphere, as the brain abruptly shifts focus from
the individual spools to the whole recognizable image.

The
brain can only hold or assemble one image at a time, so its initial
fixation on the individual spools does not allow the recognizable portrait
to emerge until the thread spools are seen through the viewing sphere
or from a significant distance. However, once the viewer "sees" the
image in the thread, the brain can shift back and forth from focusing
on the individual spools to the whole recognizable image. And once the
viewer "knows" the image is visible in the thread, he or she can not
erase it. Thus, these works function as neurological primers, literally
priming or teaching the brain to make sense of visual imagery it has
not yet been exposed to.

Overall,
this work exemplifies my interest in visual perception, the link between
art, science, and technology, repetitive processes, truth of materials,
the feminist art proposition of bringing genres into "high art," and
the scientific systems theory which focuses on the whole as well as
its part to gain understanding. - Devorah Sperber

*Partial
funding by Coats and Clark

Devorah
Sperber is a New York-based artist whose sculptures, composed of thousands
of ordinary objects, negotiate a terrain between low and high tech. Her
labor-intensive works explore repetition and the effects of digital technology
on perception, scale, and subjective reality. -Patricia Phillips, Executive
Editor, Art Journal